Evaluation of Spontaneous Combustion in Stockpile of
Sub-bituminous Coal
Dr. Haeyang PAK ＊1, Toshiya TADA ＊2, Naoki KIKUCHI ＊3, Takuo SHIGEHISA ＊3, Toru HIGUCHI ＊3,
Dr. Seiichi YAMAMOTO ＊4
＊1
Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Technical Development Group
＊2
Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Technical Development Group (currently Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd.)
＊3
Coal & Energy Technology Dept., Technical Development Group
＊4
Coal & Energy Technology Dept., Technical Development Group (currently New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization)
Spontaneous combustion in coal stockpiles is one of the
problems encountered when utilizing coals such as sub-
bituminous coal and lignite that contain highly volatile
matter. A method has been developed for simulating the
spontaneous combustion in coal stockpiles. This method
involves unsteady analysis taking into account the flow
behavior of air flowing through the pile, low-temperature
oxidation behavior of coal in the pile, evaporation,
absorption and desorption behaviors of moisture in
the coal. The simulation enables the evaluation of the
temperature change in a coal stockpile without any large-
scale temperature measurement. The simulation results
show that the heat tends to be generated at the foot of
each stockpile where the breathability is high. It has also
been confirmed that the stockpile of sub-bituminous coal
exhibits a faster temperature rise because the coal has an
oxidation reactivity higher than that of bituminous coal.
Introduction
Coal is the resource that accounts for
approximately 24% of the primary energy consumed
in Japan, which imports most of this resource from
other countries. According to Trade Statistics of
Japan, the amount of coal imported reached 185.15
million tonnes in 2012.1) Approximately 60 percent
of this amount is occupied by steaming coal used for
fueling commercial and industrial boilers. In many
cases, high-grade bituminous coal is used for this
purpose. A coal with a higher degree of coalification
has a higher carbon content. The Japanese Industrial
Standard (JIS M1002) classifies coals according
to their calorific values on the moisture-ash-free
basis: i.e., bituminous coal with a calorific value of
33,910kJ/kg or higher, sub-bituminous coal with
a calorific value from 30,560kJ/kg to 33,910kJ/kg
(exclusive of 33,910kJ/kg), and lignite (brown coal)
with a calorific value from 24,280kJ/kg to 30,560kJ/kg
(exclusive of 30,560kJ/kg).
Coal-fired power generation plants are equipped
with facilities for storing coal imported from other
countries. These storage facilities are roughly
classified into two types; i.e., outdoor coal storage
and indoor coal storage. In outdoor coal storage
such as that involving a stockpile (hereinafter "pile"),
stackers and reclaimers are used for piling and
21 KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015
delivering the coal; therefore, this type of storage
is used in many cases by steelworks and thermal
power generation plants on large sites. On the other
hand, indoor coal storage, using silos, for example,
is increasingly being adopted these days by plants
with limited space and/or those with concern for the
neighborhood environment.2) A coal yard generally
has a storage capacity equivalent to the amount of
coal consumed in one to two months, depending
on the scale of the steelworks or thermal power
generation plant.
When storing coal for an extended period of
time, attention must be paid to the possibility of
spontaneous combustion. The temperature inside a
pile immediately after the piling is approximately
30℃ to 40℃, but it rises gradually due to the heat
generated by low-temperature oxidation of the
coal. The temperature of a pile is determined by
the balance of the heat of coal oxidation, the latent
heat of water evaporation and the heat dissipated
from the pile by air flow. It is considered that the
temperature continues to rise at a spot where heat
generation dominates, which eventually leads to
spontaneous combustion.3)
In many cases, the spontaneous combustion
characteristics of coal are evaluated by measuring
the change of temperature caused by the self-heating
of a sample in an adiabatic system.4) It has been
known that coal with strong oxidizing properties,
such as a high O/C ratio (the ratio of oxygen to
carbon contained in coal) and large specific surface
area, is more prone to spontaneous combustion
(internal factors). When considering the spontaneous
combustion characteristics of coal in storage, the
effect of external factors, such as the particle size
distribution and the filling state of the coal, the
amount of sprinkled/precipitated water and ambient
temperature, must also be taken into account. As
an evaluation method taking into consideration
both the internal and external factors, long-term
experiments extending over several months have
been conducted to measure the temperature of test
piles, each consisting of several thousand tonnes
of coal.5), 6) This method is useful for evaluating the
spontaneous combustion characteristics of a new
type of coal that has not been used before, but is
costly.
Recently, the supply sources of coal are becoming
more diversified and coals are becoming more
degraded. As a result, thermal power generation
plants in Japan are using various types of coal.
Above all, these plants are increasingly using
coals such as sub-bituminous coal, which has a
high O/C ratio and is more prone to spontaneous
combustion than bituminous coal. These types of
coals are expected to see increased use. Therefore,
it is important to understand the spontaneous
combustion characteristics of new types of coals in
advance so as to prevent them from causing fires at
coal yards.
It was against this background that Kobe
Steel has developed a simulation technology for
predicting the heat generation behavior inside a
coal pile, taking into account internal factors such as
the low-temperature oxidation of coal and external
factors such as piling conditions and the outer
environment, so as to prevent fires from occurring
when storing a new type of coal, including sub-
bituminous coal, that has not been used before.
1. Simulation model outline
A heat-generation simulation of a coal pile
(hereinafter "pile simulation") has been designed to
accurately reproduce the heat generation behavior
inside piles. The following three behaviors were
studied in detail and were modeled:
i) the behavior of air flowing inside the pile,
ii) the low-temperature oxidation behavior of
coal inside the pile, and
iii) the evaporation and adsorption/desorption
behaviors of moisture in the coal.
These models were incorporated into the
software for general-purpose thermal fluid analysis
(ANSYS Fluent), which makes it possible to perform
unsteady analysis taking into account the heat
transfer, flow and reaction in a large-scale pile. As a
result, the heat generation characteristics of various
coals during storage can now be predicted by simply
obtaining their physical properties from small-scale
tests. This eliminates the need for measuring the
temperatures of large test piles.
1.1 Air flow behavior inside piles
In a pile, air flows by the natural convection
associated with heat generation. Roughly speaking,
the air flow is caused by warmed air rising up inside
the pile and escaping outside, while fresh air is being
supplied from outside. A pile is an accumulation
of coal granules having a size distribution. Thus,
in order to reproduce the air flow, the pressure
drop inside the pile must be assessed and the
flow conditions of the air must be determined. In
addition, a pile consists of coal granules with a wide
size distribution, resulting in different degrees of
breathability, depending on the location within the
pile. For example, the breathability is increased at
the foot of a pile, because, when coal is piled by a
stacker, coal granules with larger sizes tend to roll
and to be segregated at the foot.
In order to evaluate the air flow distribution
inside a pile, the granule size distributions were
measured at various locations within a pile and the
pressure drop for each granule size distribution
was determined. Fig. 1 shows the outline of a 1.5m
laboratory pile simulating a stacking process. As
shown in this figure, the test includes piling coal
by discharging it from a container bag above the
piling spot and collecting coal granules from areas
spaced at a height interval of 0.5m. The coal granules
thus collected were measured to determine their
granule size distribution and coefficient of air flow
resistance, as described later. The air flow resistance
coefficient is used as a measure of breathability.
This figure also includes average granule sizes
(50% of integrated value) in different areas. Area
1 corresponds to the foot of the pile and shows an
average granule size of 29.8mm, indicating that
granules larger than others by one digit tend to
accumulate there.
Next, an apparatus for measuring pressure
drop, as shown in Fig. 2, was used to determine
the relationship between the flow velocity
and pressure drop in each area. This apparatus
comprises a column to be packed with granules of
coal, an air supply, a flow meter and a manometer
for measuring the differential pressure of the packed
column. Fig. 3 depicts the relationships between the
flow rate and pressure drop in areas 1 to 3. These
areas correspond to the surface layer of the pile.
This figure shows that, regardless of the area, a
linear relationship as expressed by Equation (1) is
established between the flow rate (u) and pressure
Fig. 1 Piling test
KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015 22

Fig. 2 Schematics of experimental apparatus for pressure
drop
Fig. 3 Relationship between pressure drop and flow rate
drop (ΔP):
ΔP/L＝k･u ……………………………………… (1)
wherein L is the height of the packed layer, while k is
the slope of Equation (1) and represents the air flow
resistance coefficient (Pa･s/m2). In this simulation,
each pile is provided with a distribution of air flow
resistance coefficient, k, so that the pressure drop
can be determined and the behavior of the air flow
inside the pile can be expressed. Considered by area,
the air flow resistance coefficient becomes smaller
at the foot (Area 1) of the pile, the area where larger
granules tend to accumulate. For a conical shaped
pile, the air flow resistance coefficient is higher in the
areas deeper inside the pile and in the areas closer to
the top.
1.2 Low-temperature oxidation behavior of coal than that of the bituminous coal. The results also
inside pile
It is generally understood that, when coal is
23 KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015
oxidized at a low temperature, the adsorption of
oxygen leads to the production of peroxides first,
and these peroxides decompose into CO, CO2 and
H2O in the end. It is known that, as the integrated
amount of oxygen adsorbed on the coal increases,
the number of adsorption sites decreases, lowering
the rate of adsorption. This means that, in a pile, the
heat generating reaction proceeds by consuming
oxygen in the air and, as time passes, the activity
of this reaction decreases, slowing down the heat
generation.
As described above, the heat is considered to
be generated by the progress of a low-temperature
oxidation reaction. In this simulation, Equation (2)
is used to determine the heat-generation rate Q (kJ/
m3/s) of coal:
Q＝ΔH (1−ε)ρOCR …………………………… (2)
wherein ΔH is the heat of oxidation reaction (kJ/
kg-O2), ε is the void ratio inside the pile and ρ is
the solid density (kg/m3). An important factor in
determining the heat generation rate is the oxygen
consumption rate (OCR) expressed in mg-O2/g-coal/
day. The OCR is a value unique to each coal and,
as shown by Equation (2), a larger OCR indicates
that more heat is generated in the pile. Furthermore,
the OCR depends on the temperature and oxygen
concentration. Thus, it is expressed by Equation (3)
in this simulation.
OCR＝OCR0 EXP{−ΔE/R(1/T−1/T0)}[O2]n …… (3)
wherein OCR0 is a value (mg-O2/g-coal/d) measured
at 303K (30℃) with 21%-O2 (standard conditions),
ΔE is the activation energy (kJ/mol), [O 2] is the
oxygen concentration ratio (= "oxygen concentration
in the pile" / "oxygen concentration under the
standard conditions"), n is the order of reaction
(-), and T and T0 are the temperature (K) inside
the pile and the temperature (K) under standard
conditions, respectively. Here, the OCR0 decreases
with the increase in the integrated amount of oxygen
consumption and is expressed as a function of the
integrated amount of consumption.
The determination OCR0 involves putting coal
and dry air (standard condition) in an airtight
container and measuring the temporal change in
oxygen concentration. This method was used to
measure the relationship between the OCR and
integrated oxygen consumption for bituminous
coal from Australia (Coal A), as well as for sub-
bituminous coal from Indonesia (Coal B). The results
are shown in Fig. 4. As is evident from this figure,
Coal B, sub-bituminous coal, has an OCR higher
confirm that the OCR increases exponentially with
increasing temperature. It should be noted that both
types of coal show decreased reaction activity and

Fig. 4 Oxygen consumption rate
a smaller OCR as the integrated value of oxygen
consumption increases.
On the basis of the above, the OCR was measured
for individual types of coals and was reflected in
the simulation as a function, using Equation (3),
of the integrated amount of oxygen consumption,
temperature and oxygen concentration.
1.3 Evaporation, adsorption and desorption of decrease. In a condition where the heat generation
moisture in coal
The evaporation, adsorption and desorption
of moisture in coal are important in determining
temperature behaviors inside a pile. This is because
the moisture contained in coal evaporates, causing
the latent heat of evaporation to cancel out the heat
of low-temperature oxidation, which lowers the
temperature inside the pile. The moisture contained
in coal may be classified into two types: namely, (i)
adsorption moisture existing in the pores of the coal,
and (ii) adhering moisture caused by rainfall, the
Fig. 5 Water adsorption/desorption isotherms
sprinkling of water, etc. Adsorption moisture is less
prone to evaporate than is adhering moisture, and
the amount of evaporation is determined from the
relationship between the relative humidity and the
amount of adsorption moisture.
Fig. 5 shows the adsorption/desorption isotherms
of water. These isotherms were obtained by
putting coal and water vapor in a container with
a variable pressure and by changing the pressure
under isothermal conditions. These graphs represent
values actually measured for bituminous coal (Coal
A) and sub-bituminous coal (Coal B) under the
condition of 40℃ (313 K). Under a given relative
pressure, Coal B exhibits an increased amount of
water adsorption, compared with Coal A. This is
because the sub-bituminous coal has a larger specific
surface area than bituminous coal; the coalification
proceeds while changing the carbon structure and
the chemical bonds of the coal. For a given humidity
condition, only the moisture in the condition above
the adsorption/desorption curve can evaporate, and
this evaporation continues until this moisture is
dissipated. When the relative pressure is constant,
the moisture in the coal stays on or above the
adsorption/desorption curve; meaning it does not
is dominant, the temperature of the pile increases,
decreasing the relative humidity. As a result, the
evaporation continues, decreasing the moisture
content of the coal. When the moisture in the coal is
completely dried, no factor that can suppress heat
generation exists any longer, and, as a result, the
temperature in the pile rises faster.
On the basis of the above, the adsorption
isotherms of water were measured for each type of
coal. The evaporation behaviors of moisture in coal
were more realistically modeled and simulated in
this way.
KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015 24
 2. Measuring internal temperatures of test pile

In order to improve and verify the analysis

accuracy, two test piles with different heights
(15m and 4m) were prepared and their internal
temperatures were measured (Fig. 6). The larger
pile (15m pile) was cone-shaped and had a base
angle of approximately 37 , a height of 15m and
a bottom diameter of 40m. Measurements were
performed at the 15 points shown in Fig. 6-(a) and
the thermometers were spaced at intervals of 2.2m
to 2.8m. The smaller pile (4m laboratory pile), on
the other hand, was a partial cut-out of a cone-
shaped pile and had the shape of a triangular prism
with a height of 3.8m, width of 0.8m and bottom
length of approximately 5.9m. Both of the triangle-
shaped lateral faces were thermally insulated.
Measurements were performed at the 21 points
shown in Fig. 6-(b) at the center of the 0.8m width
and the thermometers were spaced at intervals of
approximately 0.5m to 0.7m.
The sub-bituminous coal, Coal B, was formed
into the above two test piles and temperature
measurements were conducted on each one for
about a month. Fig. 7 shows the results of these
temperature measurements at typical points in the
piles. As shown in Fig. 7(a), in the 15m large pile,
the temperature rose remarkably at points #4, 5,

Fig. 7 Measured results of temporal temperature change

inside pile

8 and 9, each located at the foot of the pile. The

Fig. 6 Measurement points of temperature inside pile
heat is generated by oxidation, and oxygen must be
supplied into the pile for it to occur. The remarkable
temperature rise at the above points could thus be
attributable to the fact that coal with a larger granule
size tends to accumulate at the foot of the pile, as
in the case of the 1.5m laboratory pile described
in Section 1.1, making the breathability at the foot
higher than at other points, enabling the supply of
oxygen required for the heat generation. At the #9
position, in particular, the pile temperature rose at
a rate of 1.2℃/d. This indicates that the temperature
would reach 90℃ in 50 days. Once the pile
temperature reaches 90℃, the temperature begins to
rise abruptly. Thus ignition is presumed to occur at
this location.
The 4m laboratory pile, shown in Fig. 7(b), also
showed a remarkable temperature rise at points
#5, #10, #11, #14 and #15, each at the foot of the

25 KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015

pile as in the case of the larger pile. The maximum
temperature reached in the case of the 4m laboratory
pile, however, was lower than that reached by the
larger pile. This is due to the greater amount of heat
dissipated from the lateral faces of the triangular
prism.
3. Prediction of heat generation based on pile by Equation (4). Here, ε represents the ratio of
simulation
The newly developed pile simulation was used
to reproduce the heat generation behaviors in the
two test piles (15m and 4m). Table 1 shows the
physical properties of the sub-bituminous coal from
Indonesia (Coal B) used for the test. The physical
properties of the bituminous coal from Australia
(Coal A) are also shown for comparison. The O/C
ratios-an index for spontaneous combustibility-
are 0.05 and 0.14 respectively, indicating a higher
spontaneous combustibility for Coal B. The major
differences between Coal A and Coal B lie in the
moisture content, specific heat, heat of oxidation
reaction and activation energy. Coal B, containing
a greater amount of moisture, is characterized by a
higher specific heat and a smaller heat of oxidation
reaction.
The initial conditions of the temperature and
humidity for this simulation were taken from
an average temperature and relative humidity
corresponding to those of the atmosphere in
Indonesia, where the temperature measurement
experiments were carried out (Table 2). As for heat
transfer behaviors inside a pile, the heat generation
by oxidation reaction was estimated on the basis of
Table 1 Coal properties
Table 2 Initial condition of coal pile and atmosphere
thermal conduction, while the heat extraction from
the pile by air flow was estimated on the basis of
convection heat transfer.
The heat generated by the low-temperature
oxidation reaction of coal is transferred inside the
pile by thermal conduction in accordance with the
effective thermal conductivity λ (W/m/K) defined
voids inside the pile, λ p represents the thermal
conductivity of coal and λg represents the thermal
conductivity of air.
λ＝(1−ε) λp＋ελg …………………………… ( 4 )
The heat extraction from the pile, on the other
hand, was assumed to be caused by natural
convection (10W/m2/K), since the velocity of the air
flowing inside the pile is low. The dissipation of
heat from the bottom of the pile to the ground was
considered to take place by thermal conduction
(10W/m/K). For the 4m laboratory pile, the amount
of heat dissipated to the atmosphere from the
triangular lateral face with insulation was assumed
to be 0.5W/m2/K. When measured, the amount of
heat dissipated from the triangular lateral face of
the 4m laboratory pile was, in fact, found to be
approximately 0.5W/m2/K to 0.6W/m2/K.
The results of the simulation are shown in Fig. 8
and Fig. 9. The objects of analysis were the 15m large
piles of Coal A (Fig. 8, left) and Coal B (Fig. 8, right),
and the 4m laboratory pile of Coal B (Fig. 9). The
simulated data was compared with measured data,
which proved that this pile simulation represents a
good reproduction of the hot spots and the temporal
change in temperature, regardless of the heights
and shapes of the piles. In the case of the 15m
large pile, the simulation has confirmed that the
temperature rises significantly at the foot of the pile
and as far as half-way up, in the same way as in the
actually measured data, reaching approximately
70℃ to 75℃ after 30 days. The simulation has also
been confirmed to be a good reproduction of the
temperature that was reached, lowered by the
dissipation from the triangular lateral face of a pile,
e.g., one similar to the 4m laboratory pile, even if it
has a different shape.
Comparing the 15m large piles of Coal A and
Coal B, the simulation results show that Coal A
reaches its maximum temperature of 50℃ after 30
days, while Coal B exhibits areas whose temperature
exceeds 60℃ even after 15 days and reaches the
proximity of 75℃ after 30 days. This is considered
to be due to the high OCR of Coal B, sub-bituminous
coal, which gives rise to a low-temperature oxidation
reaction. In the case of Coal A, on the other hand, the
temperature was found to rise in wider areas than
in Coal B. This is considered to be attributable to the
KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015 26

Fig. 8 Analysis results for temporal temperature change in
15m large piles of coal A and coal B
Fig. 9 Analysis results for temporal temperature change in
4m laboratory pile of Coal B
27 KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 33 FEB. 2015
fact that Coal A has a lower specific heat and higher
heat of oxidation reaction compared with coal B,
which has a high moisture content (Table 1).
As described above, it was confirmed that the
heat generation behavior during the storage of a
new type of coal that has not been used before can
be predicted without conducting trials on large-
scale test piles. This can be achieved by laboratory
tests to obtain data on the internal factors, including
the low-temperature oxidation of the coal and the
adsorption and desorption characteristics of water,
and on the external factors, including the filling state
of the pile and outer environment.
Conclusions
A heat generation simulation has been developed
for piles of coal. In order to accurately reproduce
the heat generation behaviors inside the piles, this
simulation consists of unsteady analysis that links
the heat transfer, flow and reaction, taking into
consideration i) the flow behavior of air inside the
pile, ii) the low-temperature oxidation behavior
of coal inside the pile, and iii) the evaporation,
adsorption and desorption behaviors of moisture in
the coal. This simulation makes it possible to predict
the heat generation behavior when storing a new
type of coal that has not been used before.
In other words, the simulation allows predicting
the spontaneous combustion of various new types
of coal during storage by simply obtaining their
physical properties through small-scale testing
without conducting large-scale measurements
involving several thousand tonnes of coal.
This technique is to be used to predict heat
generation behavior during the storage of various
new types of coals and to establish databases for
appropriate delivery intervals.
References
1) Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).
Research report on the development and advancement of
coal from overseas. March. 2013.
2) H. Yamamoto et al. Journal of the Japan Institute of Energy.
2007, 86 ( 2 ), p.119-129.
3) H. Asaga. The thermal and nuclear power. 2006, 57 ( 6 ),
p.426-430.
4) T. Muratani et al. Conference of coal science (38). 2001,
p.279-282.
5) T. Ono et al. The thermal and nuclear power 33 ( 3 ). 1982,
p.247-261.
6) T. Ono et al. The thermal and nuclear power 33 ( 4 ). 1982,
p.379-386.
Note )
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